To Be a Hero
by piqueprincess
Summary: Alfred grew up acknowledging only one law, survive. But when his brother Matthew and the thorn in his side Arthur get kidnapped and taken to be trafficked, Alfred vows to rescue him. With the help a group of misfits with a boat, his journey begins.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia and I've always wanted to try my hand at adventure. I'm surprised I've never done it.**

**I also have a blog-type thing where I talk about my fanfiction in unserious ways. Check out Prussiapokesbadgers**

I was slow growing up. Not in the sense that I couldn't run very fast or wasn't very clever. I mean that the process took longer than it did with other people. At the Foundlingry they have a big brother program. Foundlingry is just a euphemism for an orphanage, but it's supposed to make the parents giving up their children feel a little bit better about abandoning their kids. A lot of kids here aren't actually orphans, but abandoned children. We might as well be orphans though.

Anyway, the program is basically to make the kids feel like they have a family by having one of the older kids that haven't been adopted yet be a stand in older brother for one of the children who will more than likely never actually get adopted. I'm sixteen years old now and I've never been part of the big brother program. They only give brothers, or sisters, to good kids. The older girls are always sent to the church to become nuns after they turn sixteen if they're promising enough. I only know one girl though that has been rejected from becoming a nun.

I do have a brother though, although we don't know which one is older or younger since our parents dropped us off when we were still just newborns. No matter what though, he'll always be my littler brother. Matthew was a good kid, he got a big brother and became one when we got old enough. I wasn't jealous though. Remember that girl I told you about earlier, she and I had a lot of fun growing up.

* * *

><p>"Hey Liz! Look, it's a new vendor!" I point to the new guy standing on the marketplace corner. He's selling tomatoes, which aren't my favorite but food is food and that guy looks like a chump.<p>

"He most certainly is! Look at him, smiling at everyone. No one who's been in Hatuboro long enough would be smiling like that, so genuine." Liz replies. Liz is my best friend, even though she's a girl. She doesn't have any cooties and she's a lot tougher than my brother Matthew or that stupid head Arthur.

"Poor guy's gonna be taken advantage of." I look at Liz and nod. She nods back. "We should help him."

"Plan Lemon Swish?" She asks, already moving into her position.

"Oh yeah, you know it!" I tell her and she's off. She runs over in front of the vendor and then pretends to trip. She typically gets a few cuts or scraped knees, but it's worth it. She starts bawling like a baby and the vender goes over to try and calm her down, taking a tomato with him. That's where I swoop in and grab as many as I can hold in my shirt.

People notice what we're doing but nobody says anything about it. The vendor keeps asking Liz where her mommy is but Liz keeps crying. You never want to answer them, it cuts your time short. Once I have all I can carry, I give her a wink and run out of sight. Her crying slows down and she tells him that she's fine now, she's just hungry. So, like the sucker he is, he gives her the tomato. She flashes him her sweetest smile, her front two teeth are missing so it works even better, and runs to me. Success!

* * *

><p>Whenever we came home from our adventures with food, no one cared that it was stolen food. Food was food. Even Arthur seemed happy, although he always yelled at us afterwords for breaking the law. Then I would tell him that the only laws I followed were the ones that kept me alive and he would shut up. I don't exactly know why, but Arthur was always right there behind me trying to ruin my fun with his stupid ideas on "safety" and "common sense." So it didn't surprise me too much that he had decided to follow me on that one particular night<p>

"And where do you think you're going? You've heard about what's been happening lately." I turned around and who did I see? Of course, that stick in the mud Arthur and my perfect little brother Matthew. Sixteen years in The Foundlingry and I don't think he's ever so much as told a lie.

"What's been happening lately." I tended to keep it cool, no matter what. Arthur may have had the book smarts, but I've always had an overwhelming amount of street smarts. I stared into his eyes for a second before I turned back on my way.

"A-Alfred! You know what Arthur's talking about. P-people have gone missing. Please, don't go off on your own!" My sweet little brother pleaded with me. There had been a lot of disappearances happening around Hatuboro, anyone that looked like they were under eighteen would be taken. Even though Arthur was nineteen, he looked seventeen at the oldest. Rumor had it that the kids would be put on a boat and sold to anyone overseas with any kind of money.

"Yeah, those are stupid kids who go out and don't know what they're doing. I've been on these streets all my life, I know them better than anyone. You guys, on the other hand, are in danger by being out here. Take your own advice and go back home." I gave them my most charming smile, the kind that made all the ladies I passed swoon. "I'll come back tomorrow with a nice loaf of bread for the little ones and, well, maybe a couple rolls for us to share. What do you think about that, Arthur, me and you. Under the cherry tree at the top of the hill, we can sit and eat and talk about books and shit. How romantic."

"Sh-shut up!" Arthur stuttered. I would tease him so much, he wasn't very manly so I regarded him as just another woman who's only goal in life was to tie you down and make you do what they want. So I flirted. Shamelessly.

"Oh, my bad. You're right, what a fine dame you are. Pretty and smart. We should just skip the date right now and go right up to the chapel and just get ourselves hitched. Whatcha say, will you marry me Artie?" I asked him, getting down onto one knee and opening my hands like I was holding a ring.

"You know the answer to that already." Arthur replied, nevertheless he was blushing. I turned away for the final time. I just didn't know back then how final it would be.

"Then go home. I don't have time for thi-" But before I finished I heard the my brother's muffled scream.

"Run!" I heard Arthur choke out. I didn't need him to tell me twice. Though it was dark, I could see the city perfectly in my mind. Every step was mapped out. If I was running at top speed, which I was, in seven steps there would be a small ledge. If I jumped over that then ran straight for thirteen steps, move right to avoid the sign and then run thirty four steps until I reach the hill. If I rolled down you at the right spot, I could get through to the dead part of the bush and then it's a clear five steps to the water.

I went with that path. I don't know when they stopped following me, shopkeepers typically stop at the ledge and the police stop at the hill. It's a steep hill and I always come out really beat up, but if I protect my face I'm fine. But by the time I was in the water I was alone. Completely alone. They had my brother and Arthur. It had been years since I had felt that pang of the heart known to law abiding citizens as "guilt" but at that moment, the feeling was overwhelming. I numbly swam the long way back to the Foundlingry.

* * *

><p>I sat on a chair in the corner of the main room. Everyone else was still asleep except for Liz and Scott. I couldn't look either of them in the eye while I explained the story. "I was, um, out. The baker always throws the bread that doesn't sell into a bin behind his shop for the, uh, pig farmer to pick up to make it into the... I mean, I don't take all of it. They're pigs and they eat better then us-"<p>

"I don't need you to explain this again. What happened to my brothers. Both of them." Scott interrupted me. Scott was Arthur's older brother biologically and Matthew's program older brother. He was twenty six and now ran the Foundlingry.

"They- they followed me. I told them to go back but they... they..." I wasn't quite sure why, but I couldn't finish the sentence. It was like something was stuck in my throat preventing me from continuing.

"Well boy! Tell me!" Scott had raised his hand to hit me. I didn't try to defend myself. But as I braced my self for the impact, something stopped it.

"Are you stupid or something? Not only is Alfred a victim here, but he might also be our only chance of finding not only your brothers but all of the missing children." Over the years Liz's voice had become soft and comforting like a woman's, but her words remained as sharp as ever. "Alfred, what do you remember about them? What sound did their feet make when they walked."

"What kind of question is that!" Scott spat, trying to keep his voice down to avoid waking the children but finding it increasingly more difficult.

"You can tell a lot about someone from the sound of their feet. Relative size, speed, and most importantly where they're from." Liz looked at Scott. He didn't react. "The soles of the shoes are different. Al and I have been studying them all out lives."

"If you all weren't all such scum, maybe you could become shoe makers." Scott scoffed. He had always had the opinion of me that by the age of twenty I would either be hanged, tied up and thrown in the ocean, or in prison. Such a sweet man. But with Liz, he had seemed hopeful. At least until she was unable to become a nun.

"You know what!" My lips moved without me telling them to and I stood up in the same manner. "You think that I'm not upset? Matthew was my _real_ brother, not one from a program. Not only that, but he's my _twin_! And Arthur- he was practically my girlfriend! You think I'm not upset about this."

Scott had gotten really close to me. "Girlfriend? That's my little brother, not just another one of the whores you date. I don't care what the courts say, I want you out of my orphanage."

"You can't do that!" Liz yelled, pulling on Scott's arm. Scott pushed me onto the ground. I didn't fight back.

"They were my family. He took them away from me. He's taken so many things, but this is the worst." I heard a slight quiver in Scott's voice. It seemed that the devil incarnate has an emotion other than anger, but more likely I got a concussion and was just hearing things.

"He didn't take them away! He was just trying to help feed the kids that you can't feed yourself! Maybe if you had been a good enough brother, they wouldn't have gone and followed them!" Liz was full out screaming now. Kids were coming out from their rooms, although screaming at night was not too uncommon in the Foundlingry. There were kids here who witnessed their parents dying, nightmares were normal.

"I know you don't believe me, and you shouldn't, but I'm gonna make this right." I spoke barely over a whisper but he heard. "I've done a lot of bad things, I'll be the first to admit. Maybe I am just rotten to the bone, or maybe I'm just a late bloomer. I wasn't born perfect like Matthew. But I swear to... anything! Everything! I swear I'll get them back."

"You are rotten. You're a thief, a con, and a liar." Scott replied.

"But that can't be all that I am!" I had turned to look him in the eye, still on the ground. I saw something on his cheek sparkle against the moonlight. If I didn't know better, I would have said it was a tear. "I'm gonna go. I'll find a ship, and I'll go and get them back. Not just Arthur and Matthew. All of the children. I won't come back until I do!"

Scott was silent for a while, which gave me enough time to get back on my feet. We all stood around in silence, if you don't count the new spectators' whispers. "And if you come back without them?"

"Then you can take me to town central and let the city decide what to do with me and all my criminal activity."

"Alright then, it's a deal."

** I hope you guys liked it. I want to write adventure! It's fun, right. I would like to thank my beta who can put her name here (Ce'Nedra Queen of Random, thank-you-very-much. Would it kill you to remember that name? Come on). Review if you liked it.**


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